


Charlie Brown & The Red Haired Girl

by bakedgoldfish



Category: The West Wing
Genre: F/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2002-11-23
Updated: 2002-11-23
Packaged: 2019-05-15 06:37:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,435
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14785382
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bakedgoldfish/pseuds/bakedgoldfish
Summary: "Had he been reading up on the Peanuts gang in his free time, he would know that she is to him what the Red Haired Girl was to CharlieBrown: unaware of his desires, ignorant of the way his eyes linger on her form, unattainable to him."





	Charlie Brown & The Red Haired Girl

**Author's Note:**

> A copy of this work was once archived at National Library, a part of the [ West Wing Fanfiction Central](https://fanlore.org/wiki/West_Wing_Fanfiction_Central), a West Wing fanfiction archive. More information about the Open Doors approved archive move can be found in the [announcement post](http://archiveofourown.org/admin_posts/8325).

**Charlie Brown & The Red Haired Girl**

**by:** Baked Goldfish 

**Category:** Leo/Margaret, UST  
**Rating:** CHILD  
**Summary:** "Had he been reading up on the Peanuts gang in his free time, he would know that she is to him what the Red Haired Girl was to Charlie Brown: unaware of his desires, ignorant of the way his eyes linger on her form, unattainable to him."  
**Disclaimer:** Don't own TWW. Don't own Peanuts. Don't sue me, please.  
**Author's Notes:** Idea comes from Ker's comment in post 180 on the Uncon list. 

"Margaret," he bellows, and in a flurry of red hair and lithe, pale body, she's in his office. "I need the files on the House Intelligence Committee review-" 

"They're being faxed over here right now, sir," she replies, and he wonders when she started calling him 'sir'. Must be recently, he reckons, and he starts wondering if he's done something to warrant the officialness and detachedness of this new title. She hasn't called him 'sir' since before he went into rehab. 

"Who's next on my list?" he asks her, keeping his face professional, though he worries that he's offended her somehow. 

"Senator Kirsken wants five minutes," she answers, unaware of his worry. 

"After him?" he prompts, his worry making his voice sound a little impatient, and he catches himself before he can cringe. 

"Sam and Toby, Leo," she replies. There's his name again, and he's momentarily relieved, thinking that maybe he hadn't slighted her, and that, rather, she'd just picked up the habit again from having secretaried for the President. "They want to talk to you about the speech." 

"Of course they want to talk to me about the speech," he quips, covering his relief with sarcasm. "What else would they want to talk about?" 

"Don't kill the messenger," she mutters before walking out, and he hopes he didn't go too far this time. Had he been reading up on the Peanuts gang during his free time, he would know that Charlie Brown has forever pined after a girl known only as the Red Haired Girl. But he spends his free time not having free time, so, he does not know of the somewhat fitting parallel. 

He gets back to work, keeping his possible foible at the back of his mind, but it resurfaces. She is beautiful, he thinks, and idly wonders what it is with him having so many red-heads in his life. But, moreso, he tries to think of reasons why nothing could ever work out between the two of them. One, he thinks to himself, he is her boss and she is his secretary. Besides the obvious cliche they would be perpetuating by starting something, if it ended up not working, the office atmosphere would be awkward, and she would leave, and he would flounder without her. 

Two, he adds, leaning back into his chair, is the age difference. She is as old as his daughter, and though he has never seen her as such, he knows that the press would. He would be a lecherous old man to pursue her, and it would be hard on the both of them. Mostly her, he thinks, because he has suffered the agonies of bad press before, whereas she has been mostly shielded from it. 

Three, he believes is the most important reason. Three, she has never noticed him. Had he been reading up on the Peanuts gang in his free time, he would know that she is to him what the Red Haired Girl was to Charlie Brown: unaware of his desires, ignorant of the way his eyes linger on her form, unattainable to him. But he spends his free time getting things done, so he does not recognize what Charles Schulz would have. There is no indication that she could possibly love him, so three is his most important reason. 

"Margaret," he calls again, putting on his glasses. Again, she enters the office, and the look on her face tells him that she holds no grudge against him. She is unaware of the way he stamps down the urge to just sit and stare at her, and sees only his guarded, professional gaze. "That fax isn't in yet?" he asks harshly, to cover up the fact that he only called her in to look at her again. 

"No, Leo, it's-" She stops her exasperated tone, and looks over her shoulder, and says, "Hang on a minute." She disappears from his view for a moment, and he ignores the way his heart jumps upon her return. "Here it is." 

"Thanks," he says, keeping his hand as far away from hers as possible as she hands him the sheaf of papers. Even though they do not touch, he still has to repress a tremble because their fingers are so close. 

She goes back to her office, but stops at the door, and all he can think of is how he wants to wipe the pensiveness off her face. "Leo, is it possible for me to leave early today? I've got a date, and, well... " 

For a moment, he feels a pang of jealousy, which he is sure she sees as a pang of anger towards her for not having told him of her plans earlier. "You couldn't have told me yesterday?" he growls, playing off the percieved anger to hide the truth. 

"I'll take that as a no," she quips, and he realises that she's not that good at hiding, because the disappointment shows through the sarcasm. He shakes his head and tries to put out of his mind the fact that he is the source of that disappointment. Finally, he gets up and goes to her door, because he feels guilty, and knows that he has to let her go, because it would make her happy. 

"Margaret," he says for the third time in ten minutes, absently noting how much he likes saying her name. "What time do you need to be out of here?" 

For a moment, she stares at him, as if she didn't hear the question. "Five?" she asks, hoping that he'll agree to it. 

He puts his hands in his pockets and nods. Because he doesn't want her to see through the facade, he gruffly adds, "You better be in early tomorrow. And don't think I'm going soft." 

She stands and grins brightly at him, and it takes all his will power for him to keep from breaking out in smile. And then her arms wrap around his shoulders in a hug, and it takes all his will power to keep from having a heart attack right then and there. 

When she stands back, her hands still on his shoulders, he asks, "The hell was that?" He hopes that his tone of voice comes off as indignant rather than hopeful, because he knows that it would be awkward if she thought he had any feelings towards her besides those of workplace friendship. 

"You're a good man, Charlie Brown," she says before giving him a peck on the cheek and going back to her desk, and he knows the reference, even though he hasn't been reading up on the Peanuts gang in his free time. He stares after her for a moment, caught between wanting to call her back to him, and wanting to melt into the carpet. 

He opts for merely grousing, "Whatever," and sauntering back to his office, closing the door behind him because he doesn't want her to see the look on his face. It would tell her too much, and make things awkward, because she has a date tonight and it would never work out if they were to pursue an office romance. So he sits down, puts it out of his head, and decides that if he's going to get any work done today, it'll have to be before five, because that's when she's leaving him. He picks up the fax, and puts his glasses on. After a few minutes, the words start to blur together, and had he been reading up on the Peanuts gang, he would have been able to say the words look the way the adults sound in the comic strips. He knows he won't get any work done anytime soon, because she kissed him. 

He takes off his glasses, leans back, and puts his fingers to his cheek. She is happy, and for now, he is happy to observe his red haired girl from afar. 

-end- 

A/N: Charlie Brown never actually got his red haired girl. In the movies, he did, but Charles Schulz never considered the movies to be canon. 


End file.
